In today’s challenging employment market where the competition is heating up, you MUST have a GREAT cover letter that sets you apart from the crowd. Now, more than ever, job seekers must come with their “A” game! Unfortunately, too many job seekers are skipping writing a cover letter all together. This is a missed opportunity for job seekers to clearly communicate who they are before the employer begins reading their resume.

Consider this…You wouldn’t introduce yourself by just listing your attributes without having a formal introduction of who you are as a person. The same holds true when applying for a job. Use your cover letter as a formal introduction of yourself, your skill set, and your career ambitions. Your cover letter will not only highlight your best features, it will also serve as your first impression to a potential employer.

To ensure that your cover letter is effective, it must be targeted. Research the potential employer and find out what their specific needs are. A quality, customized cover letter will quickly move you to the top of the stack. The only time the cover letter is detrimental is when it’s poorly written, or not tailored for the specific job that you are applying for.

Overall, the reason you are writing a personalized cover letter is to convey to the reader that you possess the skills, experience, and desire needed to land the job.

There are three essential ingredients that encompass a top-notch cover letter:

Step 1: Introduce yourself. You want to get right to the point. Who are you? You need to reference the position (make it crystal clear) that you are applying for in the cover letter. Get right to the point and drop names if possible.

Step 2: Support your unique selling points. Ask yourself, “What were the RESULTS of my efforts on previous jobs, projects, or tasks that I’ve undertaken?” Take this opportunity to address several points in the job description to inform the reader that you have the skills and abilities needed to perform them. Offer any accomplishments from your past efforts as proof that you can do the job. The bottom-line is to show the potential employer your true value.

Step 3: Be direct about getting an interview. Employers love perseverance! Don’t be shy and say that you hope to hear from them. Instead, take the extra time to locate the contact information of the hiring authority and state that you are going to call him/her at a future date and time. You MUST then follow up because he/she has marked that time on his/her calendar. It’s critical to provide your contact information as well because the hiring authority might just call you up to find out more information that will help him/her in the decision making process. Politely, let them know that you will follow up with a phone call if you don’t hear from the hiring manager in two weeks.

Reality Check Proof: A client of mine, Jennifer, followed up once for a position that she was seeking. Thank goodness she decided to call back because the employer had lost her cover letter. If she had not called and had waited for the hiring manager to call her instead, she would have never been asked to interview for the job, which she ultimately landed.

Here’s the bottom-line on the cover letter dilemma. Some recruiters will read them, some will not. Hiring managers almost always do. You put yourself at a huge disadvantage with decision makers that do read cover letters by not submitting one. There is absolutely no downside to writing a cover letter that isn’t going to be read.

In my opinion, you should absolutely write a cover letter for every resume that you submit!!!